Russia’s hidden mobilization draws recruits from marginalized communities
Russia’s war effort in Ukraine is being sustained in part through a recruitment system that places a disproportionate burden on poorer, politically marginalised and ethnic minority communities, according to John Lough, a senior research fellow and head of Foreign Policy & International Partnerships at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre. Speaking to France 24’s Erin Ogunkeye, Lough described this pattern as a deliberate feature of the Kremlin’s mobilisation strategy rather than an incidental result of recruitment.
The communities most heavily targeted are those where military losses are less likely to produce coordinated political resistance. In poorer regions, families may also face stronger economic pressure to accept military service, while ethnic minority areas can have less influence over national decision-making. This allows the human cost of the invasion to remain unevenly distributed across Russian society, limiting the likelihood that casualties will translate into organised opposition to the war.
Lough, who is also an Associate Fellow with the Russia & Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, said many of those recruited were viewed by the authorities as expendable. Their treatment reflects a strategy in which the Kremlin preserves social and political stability in more influential parts of Russia by directing much of the danger toward communities with fewer resources and less power to challenge the state.
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